1985 in Colombia

Decades:	1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s;
See also:	Other events of 1985; Timeline of Colombian history;

Events of 1985 in Colombia.

Incumbents

28 March – Satena Airlines Fokker 28, a commercial flight from Bogotá to Florencia, crashes into a mountain near San Vicente de Caguan during a storm, killing all 40 people onboard.^[3]

22 April – The Federal Government announces that it has asked its international bank creditors for a $1 billion loan.^[4]

24 June – Guerillas ambush and kill 6 police officer in western Valle del Cauca, 9 others are injured along with 3 civilians.^[5]

24 July – A Colombian Air Force cargo plane that was acting as a commercial passenger plane during a pilot's strike crashes near Leticia during a rainstorm, killing the estimated 80 people who were onboard.^[6]

11 August – Teleantioquia launches as a television channel, becoming the first regional channel in Colombia.^[7]
28 August – 19th of April Movement (M-19) leader Iván Marino Ospina is killed by the military. ^[8]
29 August – The José María Córdova International Airport opens in Rionegro, Antioquia, near Medellín.

11 September – Armero tragedy: Volcanologists warn of activity from the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.^[9]

A Colombian Police Bell 212 deploying troops on the roof during the Palace of Justice siege

6-7 November – Palace of Justice siege: 98 people, 11 law enforcement personnel, 33 guerillas, and 43 civilians, are killed when M-19 Movement members take over the Palace of Justice and take 300 hostages, planning to hold a trial against president Betancur in retaliation for the killing of Iván Marino Ospina. The dead included 11 of the Supreme Court magistrates.
13 November – Armero tragedy.

23 July – Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, judge (b. 1943).
23 August – Carlos Correa, artist (b. 1912).
7 November:
- Alfonso Reyes Echandía, then president of the Supreme Court of Colombia (b. 1932).
- Alfonso Patiño Rosselli, jurist and diplomat (b. 1923).
- Andrés Almarales, M-19 Movement leader (b. 1935).
- Fanny González Franco, first female Supreme Court of Colombia justice and lawyer (b. 1934).
- Luis Otero Cifuentes, politician and M-19 guerilla (b. 1943).
16 November – Omayra Sánchez, infamous Armero tragedy victim and subject of World Press Photo of the Year 1986, (b. 1972).

^ The Office of the Vice President was officially abolished by the 1905 National Constituent Assembly on 28 March 1905, and it was only reinstituted after the ratification of the new 1991 Constitution and filled in the following presidential elections in 1994.

^ "Biography of Belisario Betancur Cuartas". Gobierno de Colombia (in Spanish). wsp.presidencia.gov.co. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "Colombia reconoce a la RASD". El País. 28 February 1985. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "AROUND THE WORLD ; 40 Killed in Crash Of a Colombia Airliner". The New York Times. 29 March 1985. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
^ "Loan Sought By Colombia". The New York Times. 23 April 1985. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "Colombia Rebels Kill 6 Police". The New York Times. 24 June 1985. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "COLOMBIAN PLAN DOWN IN JUNGLE". The New York Times. 25 July 1985. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
^ "Las imágenes de la otra Colombia". La televisión en Colombia, 50 años: Una historia para el futuro (in Spanish). Bogotá: Caracol Televisión. 2004. p. 57. ISBN 958-96587-5-X. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "27 Hours That Shook Bogota". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
^ "Global Volcanism Program | Report on Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) — September 1985". volcano.si.edu. doi:10.5479/si.gvp.sean198509-351020. Retrieved 2024-09-20.